Day nine starts off with me shivering inside my warm sleeping bag. It was a cold night, but I pulled my sleeping bag up over my head, and slept with my thermal under layer on.
I pulled my self out of the tent, and made coffee, started a fire, and heated up some instant oatmeal for breakfast. I still wanted to find gas and head up the Dempster. The weather forecast was turning to rain, so that helped me decide to save it for another ride. Plus, there was still places south I wanted to visit. So I decided I would begin heading southward, beginning my trip home.
Time constraints suck, but I knew that going into this trip, and I was happy to have accomplished what I had so far.
There were few campers up this early, It was a surreal morning being this far north. I love this place, I find it spiritual, and I am not a religious man, But being up in the wilderness, or up in the mountains, I feel alive
I am not ready to leave this place yet, but I want to make it to Whitehorse by days end, so I slowly pack up. I take a walk down to the river, and contemplate life for a bit. Okay time to get moving. It has warmed up, the sun is out, though there is more clouds than earlier, time to ride!
I get out to the Dempster, and stop to take a picture;

I fly down the Dempster, a little frustrated for heading south, instead of north.
I get to the junction, and the gas station, and top up my bike. Hmmm, now I have enough gas to get to Eagle plains, which is the halfway point to Inuvik. My mind id already made up though, and I am heading to Whitehorse. While I am filling up the bike , a guy on a KTM Adventure pulls up. He had just come from Inuvik, and had been pushing hard to make it back. We talked for a while, and headed out in the same direction,
After riding up the Dempster, the scenery to Whitehorse is not to exciting, I rode hard all day, stopping for gas and a butt break once every couple of hours. The road was a blur that day, I passed through a few settlements, not much along this route. (The Klondike hwy). I came close to running out of gas, I did the chin on tank bag tuck for many kms,
and I made it to fuel. I had lunch in Carmacks, and kept rolling. The only thing that was interesting was following the Yukon, and I hoped Whitehorse had something to interest me. After a long day of riding hard, I rolled into Whitehorse, Yukon. I cruised through town checking things out. I would look around, for a bit, grab some food, and look for a place to stay. I ended up down by the river at a big park, and found this old paddle wheeler;

They had a tent set up with a cool video of life during the gold rush, some archival footage of trips up the Yukon river, on these paddle wheelers.
They were just closing up boat tours, so I didn't get a chance to get on board. Next time. Whitehorse is a pretty cool little town, I was tired though, and decided to cruise through on the way back to the highway, and look for a campground. Some how I miss the campgrounds in Whitehorse, no problem, I will keep going. I see a sign for the road south to Carcross, where I had passed through on my way to Skagway. The road was good, and away from Whitehorse, was more interesting to ride.

I found this big map at a pullout;

And just down the road aways, I came to The worlds smallest desert Turns out its an old lake bed, but still a pretty cool place;

I decide to take a hike out into the sand. I see some quad tracks through the sand. It would be a blast to rip it up, but that would be wrong There are some species of plant that only grow in a few places in the world here.

If its a desert, why do I still have my gear on? Its gotta be the most northerly desert in the world?
Very cool walking around here. I continue on to Carcross, just down the road.

Carcross is worth a visit if you are passing by. I ride to my favorite bakery, but its closed I missed it by one hour.
By now I need to find food, and a place to eat, preferably in the same place. The former RV park at the junction to Carcross is closed down, but some first nations women come up to me, and tell me to follow the road to Tagish. I had passed through there earlier on the trip, and knew the way. I came to a place with a sign out front, camping and food! Yes
I ride in, and I am greeted by a couple of big guys on Harleys sitting around having dinner. The place is right on the Tagish river, perfect spot. I soon meet the owner, and her daughters in the kitchen. I order a beer, and a big bowl of pasta, perfect. I am welcome to set up my tent, near the lake beside a Teepee.
The bikers, leave, but friends of the owners are visiting, and the ask me to join them. Soon I was one of the gang, turns out I grew up in the same area in Vancouver as one of the friends, so we got along well; One beer turned into several, then the tequila shots came out

These people were way to much fun. Their hospitality was incredible, they made me feel at home. They also run a place in Panama, where they spend the winter months.(smart) The place is called; Six Mile River Resort.Doug and Mitch, are the owners. Stop in and say Hi, I highly recommend them.
When the sun went down, the party ended, decided to explore the area.
I could have stayed in the teepee, but it smelled a little damp;

The sign says it all

Sunset over Tagish;

Turned out to be a pretty good day, and a great place to end up! Mas tequila por favor!